Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Jeannie sent this photo to Mark Hengesbaugh, then to me, wondered if it might be the world's shortest crested saguaro. It looked to me, though, like someone tried to re-plant a crest that had broken off. Mark investigated further and solved the mystery.

Photo (and shadow) by Mark Hengesbaugh 3/24/2015

Mark writes:

Jeannie Hutchins's cactus find turned out to be a cristate barrel, which accounts for its stubby shape. It is in a very difficult spot under a low-hanging mesquite so it’s unlikely to have been re-planted.

Monday, June 29, 2015

For some time now, I've been keeping a rainy-day file of photos and stories that aren't necessarily as time sensitive as, say, mating Sonoran Desert Toads. For today's post, I'm reaching into that file to share a scat story and an update to a post about tracks.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Looks imposing, rising from the depths, but this exoskeleton of a dragonfly nymph is not going to pursue you. After hatching from eggs, nymphs eat, grow, and shed their exoskeletons. Their final shed brings wings - and you know what that means! Adulthood. Hooray!
According to bug expert Carl Olson, this is the nymph exoskeleton of a dragonfly from the Libellulidae family, which is the largest family and includes the skimmers.

Friday, June 26, 2015

This critter may look like a bit of debris, but she's actually a Backswimmer. These insects inject their prey (other insects, and even tadpoles and small Gila Chub) with digesting enzymes and suck out the resulting goo. Yum.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

We've had a number of Great Horned owls on our property over the years, some (mostly juveniles) died. Dennis found a carcass last year, and he made a hardware cloth "cage" that allowed insects access, but nothing else. He wedged it securely in an area where we wouldn't smell it and other animals could not carry it away. He unearthed it this morning (6/14/2015) and [the photos below show] the result. The skull has been exposed and one of the scleral ring bones (the structure that looks like a collar of sorts extending out of the right eye socket) was preserved. This structure is what causes ocular immobility in the owl, hence the need for the great range they have in turning their heads. The bone stabilizes the eye, which is not a "ball" per se, but is more tube shaped.

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

This Carpenter Bee, though large, could probably fit into the very large Sacred Datura (Datura wrightii) flower; but instead, s/he is using another strategy to get nectar, namely, crewing a hole at the base.

Bonus Notes from Ned on Carpenter Bees:

The only really large bees in the Southwest that are metallic blue-black to black. The most common ones are about an inch long and as wide as your thumb. They chew into different types of wood to create nest sites. Female carpenter bees have a stinger and can inflict a painful wound.
Male carpenter bees are similar in size to females, but are blond or tan-colored in some species. The local ones that nest in Yucca, Agave and Sotols are black (both males and females).
They excavate a tunnel about 10 inches long within wood. The female bee then visits local flowers to gather pollen and nectar. The female rolls the pollen into a ball, and pushes it to the back of the tunnel where she lays an egg. She loosely plugs the end with sawdust chips and other materials, forming a chamber roughly one inch long. She then goes to get more pollen and repeats the process until the tunnel is filled with chambers full of growing bees.

And a bonus bird i.d. tool made possible with support from Google, the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech, and the National Science Foundation. Thanks to Gene Spesard for sending this article about it. Try it out for free!

Monday, June 22, 2015

This fast moving and alert snake forges on the surface during the day. It often hunts with its head elevated high off the ground. [Anne says:See this post.] It is often active in hot conditions when other snakes seek shelter in cool retreats. Encounters with this snake are usually brief as it wastes little time disappearing into nearby cover when threatened. It spends most of its time on the ground but it is a capable climber that is occasionally encountered in trees and on cacti. It hibernates during the cold months of late fall and winter. When captured it does not hesitate to bite. If persistently harassed it may feign death by tucking the head down close to the ground and remaining motionless.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Honey-Matt and I changed the hummingbird feeders on 6/17/2015. On our way to the site, we stopped to smell (and photograph) the two flowers on the Night-blooming Cereus (Penicereus greggii) plant under the mesquite just past the Esperero trailhead off the main path. On our way out of the canyon, they had both started to close up. So glad we were there early! What a treat!

Friday, June 19, 2015

Button Bush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) in bloom means that butterflies swoon. Well, they like the flowers, anyway! Some recent visitors to the Button Bushes on the Bear bridge and near the creek by the heart-of-the-canyon rock formation.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

It rained a bit on Tuesday, 6/9, and Ned and I saw dozens of Sonoran Desert Toads in the pools near the dam the next morning. They were great fun to watch! We let a number of visitors know about them. Click on the link above for more info on these cool critters.